A former Progreso municipal judge who was caught with whippits and a burned marijuana cigar in her car two years ago was publicly admonished by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct earlier this month.
The commission said Krystal Starowitz cast “public discredit” upon the judiciary in an email it sent Wednesday.
The commission issued the sanction Dec. 8, 2021, two years after Starowitz was arrested for abusing a volatile chemical.
Police found her parked in a convenience store parking lot in Mission on Nov. 1, 2019. She told officers she was a lawyer and a judge and was on her way to Houston for a mediation, according to the commission’s admonition.
Starowitz also admitted using “whippits,” which are nitrous oxide cartridges commonly abused by teens for their psychoactive properties. She showed some to the officer, though police also searched the car and found multiple cartridges and a burned marijuana cigar inside the vehicle.
Starowitz was arrested and charged with a Class B misdemeanor for abusing a volatile chemical.
She agreed and completed a formal, two-year pre-trial diversion program supervised by the Hidalgo County Community Supervision & Corrections Department, and afterward, her criminal case was dismissed.
Starowitz, however, had already resigned from her position at the Progreso Municipal Court in October 2019, a month before the arrest, according to the commission.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct found Starowitz violated the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct standards which state that “a judge shall comply with the law and should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”
It also says a judge should not engage in “”willful or persistent conduct that … casts public discredit upon the judiciary.”
